Saturday, December 03, 2016

Now they just have to sign free agent Matt Holliday to have the Cardinals’ 2015 starting outfield.

With incumbent center fielder Dexter Fowler weighing his options in free agency, the Cubs plucked another player off the open market, agreeing with veteran Jon Jay on a one-year contract worth $8 million.

Mark Melancon impressed in his time with the Nationals. Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman are two of baseball’s best late-inning relievers. Wade Davis, David Robertson and A.J Ramos can be had in trades. If they’re dead-set against spending big on a short reliever, they can give Treinen a chance and see if he develops while signing insurance policies like Fernando Rodney, Koji Uehara, Joe Smith or Brad Ziegler.

Which direction will Arizona change to when this plan doesn’t produce a World Series championship within two years? Fortune tellers?

“(Analytics) certainly has been an area of focus for us since coming over here; I know it’s been an area of focus for (owner) Ken (Kendrick) and (CEO) Derrick (Hall) when I was hired,” Hazen said. “We want to look to strategically build this department.

“He has a phenomenal reputation, very smart, impressed throughout the interview process. He’s the ...

Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) today jointly issued details of the tentative new five-year labor agreement that will allow play to continue uninterrupted through the 2021 season. The parties agreed to the terms of the pact, which is subject to ratification by both sides, on Wednesday, November 30th, prior to the December 1st expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.

The attempt to fire Omar Vizquel as manager of the Venezuela’s World Baseball Classic team has prompted backlash from some of the country’s biggest stars, including Detroit Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez.

One by one, the players appeared on a Venezuelan sports radio show Thursday night to defend Vizquel. Many threatened to drop out of the WBC unless Vizquel was reinstated. Vizquel, a future Hall-of-Famer who won 11 Gold Gloves at shortstop, has been first base coach for the Tigers ...

The Nationals have dealt for catcher Derek Norris from the Padres, per a club announcement. Righty Pedro Avila will head to San Diego in return.

It’s a homecoming of sorts for Norris, who was once a well-regarded prospect in the D.C. system before being shipped to Oakland in the deal that landed Gio Gonzalez. Now, he joins righty A.J. Cole in finding his way back to the Nationals organization via trade.

Norris never suited up at the major league level with the Nationals, but he’ll surely ...

The A’s have reached an agreement with first baseman Yonder Alonso. The one-year deal is for $4 million, The Chronicle has learned.

“Very excited to be back with such an amazing organization,” Alonso said in a text. “Me and my family are thrilled. I believe this team is not far at all from achieving a post season and winning a championship. I’m also very excited with the young core of players that came up last year and thrilled to see the guys down in ...

Despite Garcia’s 2016 struggles, he’ll bring to the Braves a career 3.57 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 56.5 percent ground-ball rate in 896 innings as a Major Leaguer. Shoulder injuries have limited him throughout his career, and he missed time with a groin strain as well in 2016, but he’s averaged 151 innings in 2015-16 and made a total of 50 starts in that time.

“Disappointed in what we’ve seen so far,” Rays baseball operations president Matt Silverman said. “I’m not optimistic about the CBA in terms of helping us as a lower-revenue club.”

The Rays had hopes, as they did in the last CBA negotiations and the one before that, for some assistance.

Specifically, they have been seeking draft reform, a change in the system that would give them more picks, or higher picks, or, even better, more higher picks based on their market size and revenue totals, ...

I was certain everyone would want to learn about the massive efforts being devoted to #keepBDCcool.

Aiming to open the Texas Rangers’ new stadium in April 2020, team and city officials now have a timeline for planning and building the $1 billion project.

In addition to hiring an architect, the Rangers expect to be interviewing structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing consultants by Dec. 31. Meanwhile, the city will start assembling its financial team, City Manager Trey Yelverton ...

Hub Purdue [sic] will no more add to the gayety of baseball. Hub announces from his home in Gallatin, Tenn., that he has quit and will devote himself to his business in Gallatin. He has a restaurant and confectionery there that is prospering and a farm near Gallatin besides. Hub did some good work for Louisville the past season, but admits he can’t keep the flesh off, try as he will, and that he has to give it up. Purdue’s trouble is that of many ...

Much to my dismay, I’ve never met Peter. That’s saying a lot because I’m not particularly moved when I meet famous people. As a matter of fact, the only people I’ve genuinely been excited to meet have been Bill James and Pete Palmer. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed meeting a bunch of other people but only those two had me pretty much speechless when I met them.

I’ve been following, reading, and learning about baseball from Peter for over thirty years. What has always struck me is, not just ...

Some reports have suggested some parts of the new CBA will hurt big market teams. Maybe some of those drags on payroll will be offset by changes like this one. We’ll see how it all plays out.

Yet, two factors in the new CBA help the Yankees regarding the luxury tax, which moves from $189 million to $195 million for the 2017 season. It will be $197 million in 2018, $206 million in 2019, $208 million in 2020 and $210 million in 2021, the final year of the deal.

Jeff Passan provides some details on what looks to be a much more complicated deal.

If a revenue-sharing payee loses a player it gave a qualifying offer to a contract for $50 million-plus, that team receives a pick right after the first round and for under $50 million after the second. Teams over the luxury tax don’t get a pick until after the fourth round. The rest of the teams are given picks after the second or third rounds. If a team receiving revenue sharing signs a qualifying-offer ...

Duquette repeated the shopping list, though he downplayed the need for a designated hitter.

“We’re still looking for catching depth,” he said. “We’re looking for left-handed hitters, we’re looking for outfielders and we’re looking for pitching depth. And potential DH. We’ve got a good candidate in Trey Mancini in-house. Mancini should be able to hit. He’s got a proven hitting record in the minors. He’s got good fundamentals. I don’t know that we’re spending a lot of ...

Thursday, December 01, 2016

According to reports from Yonhap News’ Jeeho Yoo and Korean outlet Naver, Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang has been charged with leaving the scene of a DUI crash in Seoul. It’s Friday in South Korea, and Kang was reportedly arrested at 2:48 a.m. local time with a blood alcohol level of 0.084 percent. That’s a shade over the legal limit in the United States, but it’s well above the 0.05 percent limit in South Korea….

According to Naver, Kang ran into a guardrail then left the scene of ...

It’s tough to feel bad about major leaguers when international players and minor leaguers aren’t considered.

One thing is clear: The union agreed to greater spending limits, for both major leaguers and international amateurs, than ever before. It’s reasonable for some agents to be concerned about where this CBA will lead. We just don’t know the full impact yet.

If the Mets can’t get a lockdown reliever in a trade for Jay Bruce — or Curtis Granderson — and some baseball people feel that will prove to be the case, their best option for significantly strengthening their bullpen just might be Zack Wheeler.

The Mets don’t know what to expect from their one-time phenom now that Wheeler has missed two full seasons because of Tommy John surgery.

“I have decided not to sell my stock in the Brooklyn Club,” said President C.H. Ebbets today before leading for Atlantic City. “My health was poor last summer, and I did think seriously of retiring from baseball. I feel batter now and have changed my mind. I think I’ll stay in the game.

Ebbets held on to the team for the rest of his life, dying of a heart attack in April 1925. His successor, Ed McKeever, died of influenza eleven days later.

Teams that lose a free agent who rejects a qualifying offer will still get a draft pick. The details: For most teams, that pick would be a sandwich pick immediately following the competitive-balance picks that are awarded after the second round. However, if that team comes from the 15 smallest markets and is receiving revenue-sharing money, and it loses a free agent who signs a contract worth at least $50 million, that pick would ...

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

As negotiations intensified leading up to the deadline, various reports indicated most of the items up for discussion had been settled, with one key provision still up in the air: the luxury tax imposed on teams that break the $189 million player-payroll threshold.

Though several teams have exceeded that number since it was imposed and duly paid the financial penalty, the players have increasingly viewed the figure as a de facto salary cap. The New York Post reported the limit will be ...